Bittersweet Reveries
by rebelballerina22
Summary: TRORY. (Would I write anything else?) Rory is a junior at Yale when she starts having re-occurring dreams about a certain blonde- haired, blue- eyed someone, but what she doesn’t realize is that he’s right under her nose...


Title: Bittersweet Reveries  
  
Author: rebelballerina22  
  
Chapter 1: What Dreams May Come  
  
Summary: TRORY. (Would I write anything else?) Rory is a junior at Yale when she starts having re-occurring dreams about a certain blonde- haired, blue- eyed someone, but what she doesn't realize is that he's right under her nose...  
  
Disclaimer: I own NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH. Enough said.  
  
AN: Hey, ya'll! Here's another Trory for ya, so I hope ya'll like it! Thanks to Jannie for inspiration and help. Reviews and flames welcome here. Now on with the story!  
  
***  
  
The sun was setting as the chocolate haired, doe- eyed beauty sat on the beach barefoot, just staring and taking in her surroundings. The breathtaking sunset, the warm, white sand under foot, the clear, blue water, and the handsome blonde approaching.  
  
"It's been quite awhile, Mary," the man says.   
  
"Too long, Tristan," the woman says, with a tinge of sadness in her voice, "I must say, it's really good to see you."  
  
"Likewise," he says, sitting down next to her.  
  
"I've missed you, you know," she says, their faces inching closer together.  
  
"What are you going to do about it?" he asks nearly closing the gap.  
  
"This," she says capturing his mouth with hers.  
  
"Thus sealed with a kiss," the man says, moments later.   
  
The woman just looks deep into his eyes, not saying a word, knowing what's about to come.  
  
"I must go," he says getting up and brushing off his shorts.  
  
"No, please," the woman begs.  
  
"I have to. We'll meet soon, I promise," he says walking away.  
  
"You always leave me..." she whispers.  
  
Rory awakens to find herself laying in bed in her new apartment. Sitting up, she shivers as she remembers the dream. She rubs her eyes of sleep and checks the time.  
  
"3 am, great," she thinks to herself.  
  
  
  
Sighing, she tries to fall back to sleep, but has no such luck. After much tossing and turning, she sits up in bed and decides to forget sleep, even though she has class in the morning. She throws back the comforter, puts on her ducky bathrobe, and walks to the kitchen. She makes herself a cup of steaming black coffee, goes back into her bedroom, and takes her journal out of her bedside table. Reading over her previous entry she finds that it was written in her freshman year of college; something about missing Jess and their break up just before high school ended. She tries to remember the last time the two had seen each other and realized that it was the day they broke up.   
  
"Huh, I guess I haven't put much thought into some things," she thinks to herself.  
  
Setting her coffee mug down, she gets out a pen and starts writing:  
  
I know it sounds crazy, but for the past 2 months I've been having these insane dreams. In them I see myself alone, but then he walks into them. And it's always the same person, looking exactly the way I remember him, blonde hair disheveled, eyes shining, and a smirk playing his lips. I used to miss the playful, sometimes annoying, banter a little while after he left, but I honestly haven't thought about him much in the past 5 years. Well, with the exception of those times just before the sun sets on the horizon when I try to draw the last ounce of heat from the falling sun to keep me warm through the night and I can't help but thinking of him, the way he smiled at me the night of the play. The smile that made me want to go after him...  
  
Rory falls back asleep, pen and journal still in hand.   
  
Hours later, she wakes up to the shrill of her alarm clock.  
  
"Great. Another day, another demand," is the first thought that runs through her mind.  
  
Rory yawns, quickly makes her bed, and pads barefoot across the hardwood floors to the kitchen for a cup of the elixir of life and a cold pop tart. She eats breakfast while trying to get her books and papers into her backpack. After she's done she heads to the bathroom and takes a quick shower. She tries to get ready without thinking about last night's dream by keeping busy. She's towel- drying her hair, but...  
  
"Damn, that was a great dream. It was so unlike the others. It all felt so real; the way he touched me, the way he kissed me..."  
  
"No! I need to get moving. Come on, Rory. Snap out of it!" she says aloud.  
  
Rory finishes getting ready and grabs her bag before heading out the door. Rory's cell phone rings as she heads to the campus.  
  
"Hello?" Rory answers.  
  
"Rory, it's me."  
  
"Oh, hey, Paris. I'm on my way to class right now. What do you need?" Rory asks.  
  
"Guess who I got a call from," Paris says almost, dare I say it, excited.  
  
"Let me see. Vivian Leigh. She wants her frown back," jokes Rory.  
  
"Very funny," says Paris.  
  
"No, I'm serious. You ruined her career! I mean you took the infamous frown from her, and then after Gone With the Wind her career was pretty much over," Rory says before laughing, "Oh, don't forget about Rhett-"   
  
"Do you want to hear this or not?" Paris asks getting annoyed.  
  
"Fine, fine. Tell me, O' Stealer of Frowns," says Rory, now curious.  
  
"It was Louise," Paris says.  
  
"Huh? Is that so?"  
  
"Yeah. And you'll never guess who she said goes here-"  
  
Rory cuts her off as she approaches the door to her philosophy class, "Sorry, Paris, I gotta go. I've got class. I'll call you back. I promise."  
  
"Well, be quick about it. This is important, and I'm dying to tell you the whole story," Paris says.  
  
"Will do. Bye, Paris."  
  
"Talk to you later, Rory."  
  
The two friends hang up at the same time.  
  
Rory takes her seat in front and gets her notebook out almost over eager to take notes.  
  
Five minutes into the lecture Rory starts thinking about her dream again.   
  
"Why does he still make me feel this way? I mean, it's been 5 years, you would think  
  
I'd ...forgotten by now. But maybe I don't want to forget... God I wish I'd stop analyzing myself! Concentrate on the lecture, Rory. Think about what Professor Rolf is saying. Something about wants, needs, and pursuing them...Damn, I'm never gonna focus on this."  
  
Moments later Rory drifts off into sleep...  
  
The sun was falling over the tall trees, and the breeze was blowing her slightly shorter hair back. It was picture perfect, excluding one element, one person, that would make this absolutely flawless. She sits there a few moments longer then decides to get up. Just as she's about to walk away, he walks into the picture.   
  
"It's been awhile, Mary," he says, "I've missed you."  
  
"Then why do you always leave me?" she says not turning around to face him.  
  
"You know I can't stay. We only have this little time together, just before the sun sets," he says sounding hopeless.  
  
"What if I asked you to stay?" Rory says looking into Tristan's eyes.  
  
"Don't do this, Rory," he whispers, "You know I always come back."  
  
"I want more than right now. I want forever," she says a lone tear running down her cheek.  
  
"I can't do that. Please, let us have this moment. Let's cherish this until the next one comes along," he pleads.  
  
Rory searches his eyes and realizes the truth in his words. She sits back down and he follows.  
  
Tristan takes her hand and holds it tight.   
  
"Promise me one thing, Tristan," Rory says quietly.  
  
"Anything, beautiful," he says kissing her hand.  
  
"Promise me you'll always come back. No matter what," Rory says.  
  
"I promise. This is the one place you can count on to be with me," he says kissing her forehead.  
  
"I love you," she says but not knowing why the words came out.  
  
"I love you, too, Mare," he says genuinely meaning it.  
  
She rests her head on his shoulder. They stay that way for several moments, just enjoying each other's presence.  
  
"Mary, can I ask you something?"   
  
"You just did, but please go ahead," she jokes.  
  
"Do you love me? Honestly," he asks.  
  
"Of course I do. I just said that I do," Rory says the words flowing out of her mouth with no control over them.  
  
"Mary, we can't lie to each other here. Please tell me the truth," he begs.  
  
"I love you," she says looking deep into his eyes making sure he knows it.  
  
"I believe you, and I'm sorry I had to ask," he says.  
  
The sun is lingering over the trees waiting for some unknown force to set. Tristan gets up, but Rory grabs his hand. She's about to plead with him not to leave, yet she knows he has to. She lets go and lets him leave without saying a word.  
  
"You know I'm coming back. I always do," he says turning to face her.  
  
"Yeah, I know. But it's so hard. I hate when you leave me," she says breaking down into tears.  
  
He wraps his arms around her for comfort.  
  
"You're always on my mind, even when I don't want you there,"she sobs.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"It's because of moments like these. Moments when you leave, and you and I both know that you want to stay. And the reason I can't get you out of my head is because I'm always left wondering what I did to make you leave me every time."  
  
She buries her head into his chest, letting the tears flow freely.  
  
"Rory, listen to me. You did nothing to make me leave. Absolutely nothing. I want to stay but you know that I can't. Every single time that I leave you, it breaks my heart."  
  
"Then why do you always do it?" she cuts him off.  
  
"I don't know, to be brutally honest with you. It's not in my hands."  
  
After a few minutes of tears and kisses, Tristan finally has to leave.  
  
"See you soon, Mary. I promise," Tristan says kissing her one last time.  
  
Rory is stirred from her sleep finding she had missed the entire lecture.  
  
"Damn! I shouldn't have missed those extra hours of sleep last night."  
  
Class ends a few minutes later, and Rory is still reeling from her dream. She silently exits the classroom and wonders what to do about the lecture. Suddenly a cute, yet nervous looking guy with floppy, dirty blonde hair walks next to her.  
  
"Hey, Rory? Hi, um, you don't know me but I sit in the back of Professor Rolf's class," the man says.  
  
"Hi, um... sorry I don't quite remember your name," Rory says.  
  
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, it's, uh, Cole," he struggles to get out.  
  
"Hi, Cole. It's nice to meet you," Rory says shaking his hand.   
  
"Yeah. Good to meet you too. Well, I noticed that you fell asleep in there, and I was wondering if you need some notes," he says.  
  
"Really? Wow, that would be great. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me," Rory says relieved.  
  
"W..Well you're welcome," Cole says taking the notes out and handing them to Rory.  
  
"Cole, you're a life saver, thank you," Rory says.  
  
"Anytime," says Cole smiling at her.  
  
"Well, I've got to head to my journalism class, so I'll see you next week?" says Rory.  
  
"Yeah. See ya," Cole says and they part ways.  
  
Rory finishes her classes for the day. Whenever the thought of Tristan would pop into her mind she would just shove it to the back, knowing nothing good will come of it. She finally gets home and makes herself a cup of coffee and dinner, which consists of a frozen, micro-wave chicken pot pie. Just as she's about to stick the first bite in her mouth, the phone rings.  
  
"Hello?" Rory says.  
  
"O' Child of Mine, it's good to hear your voice," the woman on the other end says.  
  
"Mom! How are you?" says Rory overjoyed to hear her mother's voice.  
  
"Not too good, actually," Lorelai says solemnly.  
  
"What's wrong? Are you okay? Is it Luke?" Rory worries.  
  
"No, I'm fine, but it's Luke. He...he... he broke Fluffy!"  
  
Rory gasps.  
  
"No, not Fluffy!" she exclaims.  
  
"Yes. It happened this morning. I haven't had coffee all day!" says Lorelai.  
  
"That's horrible," Rory says laughing.  
  
"He's made up for it by promising to buy a new one. You know, one of those fancy ones! I can't wait, babe," Lorelai says excitedly.  
  
"What are you going to name it?" asks Rory.  
  
"I was thinking...Bertha," laughs Lorelai.  
  
"That's...good," Rory says thinking it over.  
  
"Good?! That's all you can say for the new member of the family! You have just lost all Bertha privilege," Lorelai warns.  
  
"Fine with me. Gilbert is still running strong, so I have no use for Bertha," Rory says.  
  
Lorelai is in shock.  
  
"Mom?"  
  
"I have no more words for you, child. I'll just hand it over to the man of the house," she says.  
  
"Hey, kiddo," Luke says on the other line.  
  
"Hey, Lukey. I hear there's some big drama going on over there," Rory says.  
  
"Yeah. How are things over there? Are you eating healthy? How's that new apartment? Have any of those snotty college boys tried to get fresh with you?" Luke says all in one breath.  
  
"Good, yes, great, and no I'm still single," answers Rory.  
  
"Well that's good," says Luke.  
  
In the background, Rory hears Lorelai saying, "Hurry up, Lukey! Let's recreate that honeymoon!"  
  
"Ewww!" Rory says.  
  
"I...uh... I have to go," Luke says blushing on the other line.  
  
"Yeah. I just heard. Bye, Lukey. Give mom a kiss for me, and please don't turn it into a make out session," says Rory.  
  
"I'll talk to you later, kid. Bye," Luke says and then hangs up.  
  
Rory sighs, laughs, and then does the same. She takes out the notes Cole gave her so she can study while eating. After dinner, she decides to study some more.  
  
"How sad, I really am a bookworm. People my age should be out partying, drinking, having sex and what not. Wow, I sound like Patty. Oh, that's even worse!"  
  
Rory studies for a couple more hours, but the words start to blend together and within moments she succumbs to sleep.  
  
"It's been awhile, Mary." 


End file.
